Amazing Kangaroo Facts

Baby kangaroos, also called joeys, spend their first several months attached to a teat inside their mother’s pouch. After it leaves the pouch, it typical will continue to drink its mother’s milk until it is over a year old.

Kangaroos mate again as soon after a joey is borne, but the development of the second embryo stops, or rather, is paused after a few days. So in a way kangaroos are permanently pregnant. If a joey is lost, or if one has grown up and left the pouch, they can immediately give birth again.

After a joey has left the pouch, kangaroos give birth again. One of their teats will continue to produce high carbohydrate milk for the older joey. The new baby will attach itself to another teat that produces a different kind of milk with a higher fat content.

A female kangaroo can have three babies at the same time: an older joey living outside the pouch but still drinking milk, a young one in the pouch attached to a teat, and an embryo awaiting birth.

More facts about kangaroos!